A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, followed nearly an instant later by a crash of thunder. The clouds were a somber grey, light only in comparison to the inky black waves churning around the Jolly Roger. Aurora, safe in her cabin, away from the tumultuous rain, was accustomed to the sway of the ship, gentle in fair weather and merciless in storms like this. She lay in her hammock, hardly even noticing the melee on the deck above.
It had been ten years since she first boarded the Jolly Roger and never looked back. Ten years sailing with Hook and his crew, sharing in their adventures and occasionally their treasure. Of course, the crew had not been happy when she'd first come aboard. It was "bad luck" to have a woman on a ship, they had said. But since she'd been a part of the crew, they'd been even more successful than they'd been before.
And now the ship was hers. Hook and a few of the crew had been killed on a mission that was supposed to be simple but had gone terribly wrong just one month before. Oh how Aurora ached for him. She'd become closer to him than she'd ever thought she could be with anyone, especially after Phillip died. It wasn't long after she joined him that she and Hook began sharing their cabin. He became her entire world. Now she was alone, with only her memories to keep her going. She wondered, not for the first time, if she should give up this life and go back to the one she'd had before. Take off the breeches and put on the ball gowns of her youth.
Suddenly the ship jerked so wildly that Aurora nearly toppled out of her hammock and the candle, which she thought she'd firmly affixed in the sconce on the wall, came tumbling down and extinguished itself. In pitch-blackness, Aurora climbed out of her hammock, intending to go up on deck to speak to the crew and see how much longer this storm might last. She inched along with her hand against the wall to keep her bearings. Just before she made it to the door, she heard something behind her. It was a whisper. Aurora, it said. Startled, she whirled around, but the room was so dark she could see nothing. She knew it was crazy, but the voice had sounded exactly like Hook's. She shook her head, telling herself she was being ridiculous. There was absolutely no one in her cabin.
She turned again to the door, reaching for the handle. But there it was again. Aurora, this time more urgently. She spun around again and this time there was a faint light shining through the small window at the other end of the cabin. In the light there was an image, or more like an outline, of a person. A phantom, Aurora thought.
At first she was paralyzed with fear, but after a moment she stepped slowly towards it. The closer she inched, the more she realized the shape of it looked like Hook. "Ki…Killian?" she asked softly. She was halfway to the window. At first the spectre said nothing, but then…
Stay. Aurora saw his mouth move. Either she was losing her mind or a ghost, the ghost of the one she loved, stood in front of her. "What do you mean, stay? Killian, I…I miss you so much. I feel lost without you. Like my compass is broken…"
Just then there was a loud crash and the ship jerked more violently than it ever had before. Aurora was thrown across the room, and she landed against the wall with a thud. Dazed, she rubbed the back of her head. Fortunately, there was no blood. She looked back at the window only to see that the apparition was now gone. "No," she whispered. "Come back!" But nothing happened. She felt empty and tears started to sting her eyes.
Aurora then noticed that the ship seemed to have come to a hard stop, though she felt a definite lean. "We must have crashed!" exclaimed, and carefully stood up. The knock to her head made her unsteady but she made her way to the door and opened it this time, and was greeted by a sight that stopped her in her tracks.
Where the ships mast should have been there was now the edge of a cliff jutting into the ship, and the deck was torn into shards. The crew were either bloody and screaming or, in most cases, lying perfectly still, shocked expressions etched permanently onto their faces. To her left, she spied Mullins, one of Hook's most loyal crew members. He was half lying, half sitting, and his belly had a circle of red growing larger and larger. She rushed to him, her eyes growing wider. "What happened?"
He was breathing heavily, but managed to speak. "It came outta nowhere, miss. We was bein' tossed everwhere, couldn't steer for nuffin, couldn't see nuffin through the waves and the dark. Allsa sudden there was that big black rock and it was just too late. Too late..." He leaned back and gasped his last breath.
Aurora stood and wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked around again at the carnage. "If I'd come up here when I started to, I would be dead right now." She looked back towards the cabin. "You saved my life, Killian. Again. You saved me the first time when you took me away, and now you've done it again."